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Well-being consultations

Understanding and improving children’s well-being in local areas

The well-being consultations are designed to provide an assessment of well-being amongst children and young people.

The process helps identify the factors that create risk and vulnerability at a local level. This assessment enables commissioning bodies to better target their resources and interventions to support young people at risk.

Our well-being survey establishes children’s sense of well-being. So far around 50,000 children have participated in the research. The national results are published in annual Good Childhood Reports that outline the overall well-being of children aged 8-16, and help us promote policy and practice developments that will support children in experiencing improved well-being.

Well-being consultations

We have adapted this national research for use in local areas. Our well-being consultations consist of five simple steps:

Online survey to be completed in schools

Consultation sessions in schools and youth groups

Report produced on survey and consultation findings

Feedback events

Action and change

The online survey is sent directly to individual schools as a live link for them to distribute through their own system. The anonymous survey has been designed to be completed without support by young people aged 8-16.

Notes from a well-being consultation

Following the completion of the survey and a compilation of results, we'll lead a series of follow up consultations in schools that participate in the survey.

The consultations are based on class discussions and fun activities that allow young people to expand and explain some of the results from their perspectives.

Feedback sessions are facilitated by our staff for the commissioners, key agencies and practitioners. These sessions aim to stimulate discussion and encourage action and change for local children.

Case study: Portsmouth City Council

Portsmouth City Council commissioned our work earlier this year. They said: 'The results of the survey are informing the development of the priorities and action plans of our Children's Trust Board. One of the issues that was highlighted in [our] report was around bullying and safety, we have recently published an anti-bullying toolkit for schools. It has received national recognition and has been well received by schools.'

This process of assessing well-being ideally will be repeated after two years to establish patterns and changes in children’s well-being.

Survey and follow-up

The combination of the survey with follow-up consultations and feedback means that our research is uniquely positioned to capture local data that can be compared to national averages, as well as giving children and young people a voice and obtaining a more detailed understanding of their lives.

This enables meaningful action and efficient use of local resources for children and young people.